PORTLAND, OR -- NuScale Power, LLC announced today that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently concluded the Highly Integrated Protection System [HIPS] Platform is acceptable for use in plant safety-related instrumentation and control (I&C) systems.

The HIPS Platform is a protection system architecture jointly developed by NuScale Power, LLC and Rock Creek Innovations, LLC. The HIPS platform is based on the fundamental I&C design principles of independence, redundancy, predictability and repeatability, and diversity and defense-in-depth. The HIPS platform is comprised of just four module types which can be interconnected to implement multiple configurations to support various types of reactor safety systems. It also uses field programmable gate array (FPGA) technology that is not vulnerable to internet cyber-attacks. NuScale is using the HIPS platform for its module protection system (safety I&C platform), contributing to the NuScale small modular reactor’s (SMR’s) unprecedented level of safety.

Chief Operating Officer Dale Atkinson stated, “NuScale is pleased to have received this important regulatory approval as it is a major step toward successful completion of the NRC design certification”.

The HIPS platform was co-designed over a period of six years in a collaborative effort between NuScale and Rock Creek Innovations of Waverly, Kansas.

“We are proud to have had the opportunity to partner with an innovative company like NuScale and create a safety I&C platform which complements the simple and elegant design of the NuScale SMR”, said Gregg Clarkson, President of Rock Creek Innovations.

Earlier this year, a working prototype of the HIPS platform was installed and tested in the NuScale simulator in Corvallis, Oregon. The prototype was designed and manufactured by NuScale strategic partner Ultra Electronics.

“Ultra is proud and excited to be partnered with NuScale in providing the detail design for the HIPS architecture”, said Nick Gaines, Managing Director of Ultra Electronics, Nuclear Control Systems.

The first commercial NuScale power plant is planned for construction on the site of the Idaho National Laboratory for the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) and operated by experienced operator Energy Northwest.

About NuScale Power, LLC

NuScale Power, LLC is developing a new kind of nuclear plant; a safer, smaller, scalable version of pressurized water reactor technology - a technology initially developed and tested at Oregon State University. Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR), a global engineering, procurement, and construction company with a 60-year history in commercial nuclear power, is the majority investor in NuScale. NuScale's design offers the benefits of carbon-free nuclear power and reduces the financial commitments associated with giga-watt size nuclear facilities. NuScale technology is ideally suited across diverse platforms including base load electricity, load-following support for renewables, very high-reliability micro-grids, and process heat or steam for district heating, desalination and industrial uses.

At the heart of our technology is the fully factory fabricated NuScale Power Module™, an integral reactor vessel surrounded by a high pressure steel containment, which when coupled to its factory fabricated power generation equipment can produce 50 megawatts of electricity. A NuScale power plant can house up to 12 of these modules for a total facility output of 600 megawatts (gross). The scalability afforded by the modular design allows customers to incrementally increase facility output to match demand. The NuScale Power Module™ is premised on well-established nuclear technology principles with a focus on integration of components, simplification or elimination of systems, and use of passive safety features resulting in highly reliable operation underpinned by an extremely strong safety case and unparalleled asset protection, making it suitable to be sited at locations closer to where electricity or process heat are needed.

NuScale is headquartered in Portland, Oregon and has offices in Corvallis, OR; Rockville, MD; Charlotte, NC; Richland, WA; and London, UK.